


That time Dean and Cas dated for a year and no one noticed

by CeNedraRiva



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Asexual Castiel, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gossip, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Secret Relationship, because why not, by accident somehow, fake mutual pining/fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-14 22:52:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9208712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeNedraRiva/pseuds/CeNedraRiva
Summary: So apparently not one of the teachers they worked with had any clue Dean and Cas were dating. They only lived together, drove to work together and hung out every weekend where they stared longingly at each other.Dean thought it was ridiculous. Cas saw it as an opportunity.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt 2 - "We're both teachers and dating each other and somehow our colleagues haven't noticed. Now we have this christmas party at our place for the colleagues?" OR "you invited you to your christmas party at your place and mate. you've never seen me drunk or tipsy but SHIT have you always been that good blooking"Maybe not exactly like this but you know. They're teachers and hosting (either one of them or them together' a pre christmas/New years party for the teachers who are willing to come over, smth like that?

So maybe Dean had been a little oblivious when it came to crushing on guys. He’d end up all flustered, or nervous, and angry, and have no clue why. And maybe it had been a bit of a revelation when Charlie dragged him along to a gay bar as a post-LARP celebration, and Dean had found himself ignoring the gorgeous women in favour of the downright mouthwatering men around them. And maybe he’d gotten into a little bit of a panic before he could talk it over and realised he was bi. That was all ancient history.

What he didn’t get was how anyone could think he and Cas weren’t dating.

Sure, only a few years ago he’d been so closeted he had no idea he was in Narnia, but it wasn’t like he tried to hide that side of himself. Not now that he knew it existed, at least. And let’s face it, his crush on the amazing performing arts teacher was visible from space. I mean, could you blame him? Castiel was practically a goddamn angel among men. He was like the manifestation of all those awful cheesy Facebook posts, the ones about saving the world one person at a time and loving yourself so you can be kind to the world, and all that hippy crap that was meant to be healing for the soul. Except it was all wrapped up in one of the most deadpan sarcastic and grumpy individuals Dean had ever had the pleasure of meeting. That was especially true before his morning coffee.

Cas could come out with the most profound nonsense sometimes, stuff that made you pick yourself back up and keep fighting until you won. He wanted you to achieve your dreams, and thought nothing of helping you get there, and he wasn’t afraid to call you out on whatever bullshit was holding you back. It was one of the things that made him such an amazing teacher.

Dean was so far gone on him.

What a relief it had been, after months of hanging out and being the best friend Dean had ever had, that Cas had drummed up the nerve to confess. If it had been down to Dean, he wasn’t sure if they’d be doing anything more than staring longingly at this point.

But in all seriousness, they had been dating a year, living together since the summer. There was no way anyone could possibly think they were single, especially considering they both worked at the same high school. Admittedly, they were in different departments, and their breaks didn’t match up any day except Thursdays, but Dean drove them both in every morning. He stayed late on the days Cas ran his musical theatre club, and Cas always came by to help out with his AP literature students. They’d even made out a few times across the campus.

On the other hand, Victor really wasn’t the kind to pull practical jokes, and he’d just spent the last ten minutes rambling on asking when Dean was going to finally settle down with a nice girl.

“Really, man, I’m fine.”

“You should at least meet her before you say no. She’s exactly your type.”

“Again, it’s not going to go anywhere.”

Dean wasn’t sure why he hadn’t corrected him. It had started off as amusing, but now it was just downright bewildering. They hung out all the time outside of work, and Dean and Cas weren’t exactly shy as far as PDA went. Mostly he was wondering how the hell someone as perceptive as Victor could miss a year’s worth of flirting and heavy looks.

“What about if you meet her at the Christmas party?”

“The party that I’m hosting? No thanks.”

It was at that moment that the warning bell rang, and they were both distracted by herding teenagers back inside. The rest of his day was taken up trying to convince bored sophomores to read more than the basic reading list outside of class and marking analyses on _Of Mice and Men_ that could have been written by sixth graders. Some parts of teaching were rewarding. Friday afternoon classes were not.

It wasn’t until he was back at home that evening, watching Netflix with Cas snuggled up against him on the couch, that Dean remembered.

Apparently Cas found it hilarious. Dean had to pause Doctor Sexy M.D. so that he could contain himself.

“Victor? Seriously? He has literally walked in on us twice!”

“Well, apparently he must think we platonically share beds mostly naked or something, because he was seriously determined to set me up.”

Cas snorted, before letting out a deep sigh. He settled back, leaning into Dean.

“Wait a second, you didn’t correct him?”

Dean felt his cheeks grow hot, as he replied, “Well. I meant to, before the bell rang…”

Dean’s eyes found those of his lover, a deep grey-blue in the dim lighting. Cas’s smile could only be described as mischievous.

“This is actually a great opportunity.”

“How’d you figure that?

“Well, Victor is probably the most observant of our friends, and he had no clue. What if no one else worked it out?”

“Now, that _is_ impossible.”

“Yeah, but what if it’s true? Everyone from work is coming here for the Christmas party, and they have no clue we’re dating!”

“Cas, sweetheart, are you trying to suggest we should use this opportunity to prank all our friends because I am so down for that.”

“Excellent!”

“We’ll have to tell Jody, though, or she’ll just let everyone know.”

“You make a good point. We’ll tell her at dinner on Sunday.”

* * *

 

After some careful, oblique questioning by a reluctantly recruited Principal Jody, it turns out that most every teacher they know from work is aware of Dean’s crush on Cas. Dean wasn’t surprised in the slightest. What was surprising was that no one seemed to know that Cas liked him back. Dean was finding it increasingly bizarre, considering some of them had helped Cas move his stuff into Dean’s house. To believe the rumour mill, Dean’s frequent outbursts of pride at his love’s skill as a teacher are nothing but the musings of unrequited love. Dean also picks up random chicks several times a week, who occasionally even left hickeys at his collar line (that one was particularly odd considering they’d been making out in an empty classroom and Cas had gotten his fair share of marks). Castiel, on the other hand, was far too busy for romance, and though he was obviously Dean’s best friend he couldn’t possibly be anything more.

It was all complete rubbish.

Thankfully, their non-work friends seem a little sharper or Dean would have lost all his faith in their instincts.

Still, Dean had no clue what to actually do with the information. Cas, however, had grown up with Gabriel Novak, prankster extraordinaire.

“It’s pretty simple, really. Everyone knows you’re pining for me, so we just play on that, make it a real big drama. Get in loads of fights, make up and stare longingly at one another, really set the rumour mill spinning.”

Sam was rather less impressed with their idea.

“Why? Why even do all this?”

“Come on, Sammy! It’s like something from a movie, when will we ever get another opportunity like this?”

“It’s Sam, and that’s still not a reason.”

“Isn’t ‘for fun’ enough of a reason? Besides, Cas hardly ever gets the chance to practice his acting.”

“You are going to tell everyone at the Christmas party, right?”

“Can you imagine their faces? It’s going to be great!” Dean took a deep breath, playing with the paper sleeve from his coffee cup. “Sam, I’m going to propose to him.”

“You’re kidding me, right? Don’t you think that’s a little cruel for a prank?”

“What? No, not for the prank. I just…he’s the one Sam. I wanna spend the rest of my life with him.”

“Dean that’s awesome!”

“Yeah, so you have to be at the party too.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

In reality, pretending to be fighting was proving harder than he thought. What was there to fight about that wasn’t couple stuff? They didn’t want anyone asking the wrong questions. Their first attempt at a fake fight was when Cas stormed up to him in the middle of the staff lounge growling at him for forgetting to recycle. Dean could barely keep a straight face. Although, once Cas started on the Impala, he had to draw the line. No one was trading her in, no matter how energy-efficient the newer models were. Cas apologised that evening with plenty of kisses and freshly bought pie, so Dean was inclined to forgive him.

Still, it gave him a plausible reason to ignore Cas for the next few days at work, and plenty of opportunities for them to stare longingly at each other when the other wasn’t watching. He did feel a little bad when Garth came up to console him, though.

The next fight was started by Dean. He hadn’t meant to exactly, but when he’d overheard Cas and Meg talking about which _Star Wars_ was the best he just had to butt in. It didn’t take long for Dean to get petty, bringing in every bit of pop culture he knew that Cas didn’t, until Cas was snapping at him and red in the face. Nearby, Crowley and Anna were already beginning to gossip, trying to glance over as discreetly as possible. Meg, as Cas’s best friend, actually did know they were dating, so she just sat back and watched the fight develop with amused glint in her eyes before sauntering off back to her office.

So it went for the next couple weeks. As Cas said, the rumour mill kept spinning. Meg cheerfully informed them that a betting pool had started up about whether they’d get together and where their next fight would be. Of course she’d taken full advantage of her insider knowledge and placed as many bets as she could without seeming suspicious.

Their last fight ended with them driving home separately after Cas complained about the Impala for the fifth time. If there hadn’t been students nearby they would have been shouting. As it was, Dean received supportive texts from about half of the faculty before he even got home, which really only proved how much teachers gossiped.

That night, Dean made burgers, and Cas forgave him pretty quickly for stranding him at the school. Dean could make a mean burger. They’d snuggled as Cas put on some documentary about bees.

Finally came the night of the party. Cas had decided, after helping Dean to decorate, that it would look better for him to arrive later instead of being there from the start. Looking around the busy room, Dean couldn’t help but miss him. Jody and Abbadon were chatting in one corner. Victor was flirting again with Bela, while Garth was telling some story to a larger group that was already involving sock puppets. All around the room, Dean could catch his name and Cas’s. Yeah, teachers were real gossips.

Cas arrived nearly an hour into the party. Spotting Dean from across the room, he began to march over. Quickly, the room quietened as the rest of the guests realised what was about to happen, all of them trying to watch unobtrusively. Cas stopped about a foot away, dropping into a classic stare. Dean fidgeted a little, before offering his hand. Only this close would anyone be able to notice the sparkle in Cas’s eyes.

“Castiel. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Dean.”

Cas then used the grip on his hand to pull Dean into a truly magnificent kiss. The room erupted into shocked murmurs. They parted a not much later, and Cas said, “Dean. I would very much like it if we began dating. I forgive you for the Impala.”

Dean could feel his jaw drop.

“Oh, you forgive me? Well, I’ll tell you what.” Dean dropped onto one knee, fishing a small box from one pocket to the gasps of their audience. “Marry me, and we’ll pretend it never happened.”

Cas actually looked shocked. To be fair, Dean was going off-script.

“Dean, this is so sudden!”

“Well, we’ve been dating for about a minute, I think it’s long enough without proper commitment. You’re the one I want to stay by my side. So what do you say?”

“Yes! Of course yes, you know I love you.”

“Awesome!”

Dean leapt forwards to sweep him up in a hug, and then Cas was clinging to him too. They both ignored the whistling and clapping from around the room. Most of the rest of the evening was spent with people giving them bemused congratulations, at least until it got out they had been dating for roughly a year. Victor gave him an awkward pat on one shoulder before excusing himself, and Garth decided the prank was the best trick ever, so Dean guessed he was forgiven. Jody just smiled and invited them both to dinner again. Sam, as it turns out, had recorded the whole thing on his phone. It was about then that Dean noticed Cas wasn’t by his side anymore, hadn’t been for a while. But now apparently everyone wanted to talk to him, ask about the prank, ask about them dating, ask about the proposal. Dean tried to be a good host, but at the first chance he began making excuses and slipped away.

He found Cas by the window in the hallway.

“Hey.”

“Hello, Dean.”

Cas turned to face him with a soft smile. Dean sidled up to him, bumping their shoulders together.

“So now they all know, huh?”

“Now they all know.” Cas was fiddling with his new ring. “When do you want this back, by the way?”

“The ring? Keep it.”

Cas looked up sharply.

“You want me to keep your engagement ring?”

“Yeah, I…I sort of bought it back before we even made the plan.”

“You – you really want to marry me?” Cas was blushing, of all things. Dean grinned, lifting his hand to kiss the inside of his wrist.

“’course I do, sunshine. You’re my favourite person in the whole world, you think I’d propose as a prank?”

“Well, no,” Cas looked down for a moment, biting his lip where it curved into a smile. His hand twisted to entwine with Dean’s. “You know I’m in love with you, Dean. I know you wouldn’t fake propose.”

Dean leaned forwards to place a kiss on his cheek. Cas stepped closer until there were barely inches left between them. Dean could see some hesitance in his eyes.

“You know I’ll never feel comfortable having sex with you.”

“Cas, I get it. I understand. I love you.”

“I do mean never.”

“It’s fine. I really don’t mind going without, if it means I get to keep you.”

“Of course you get to keep me. Of course I’ll marry you!”

Dean kissed him. Cas pressed closer, kissed him back again and again until they were completely tangled together. They broke apart, but only enough to see each other, and Dean moved to rest their foreheads together.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, the future-Mr-Winchester.”

Cas snorted, drawing back.

“I don’t think so. If anything, you’re going to become a Novak.”

Dean huffed.

“I proposed, so I choose the name.”

“What am I, a bride?”

“My bride.”

“You want me to wear white lace?”

“It would look pretty good on you.”

“Why don’t we just swap names?”

“Dean Novak and Castiel Winchester? No thanks!”

“What if we chose a new name?”

“Okay, we’ll think on it then.”

“Castiel and Dean Winvak. Novster?”

“Those both sound dumb.”

“Dean, this is important, I’m going to be wearing this name for the rest of my life.”

Cas was grinning at him, and Dean could barely keep from laughing himself. They were going to get married.

“Shall we re-join the party, sunshine?”

“I’d love to, fiancé-mine.”


End file.
